A day out at the beach turned to horror for this family after a freak rockpool accident left dad Steven Taylor with serious head injuries.

The father-of-two is today waiting to discover whether he will need brain surgery following a bizarre chain of events which resulted in him falling from a cliff while out with his partner and young son in Amble.

Steven, his girlfriend Stacey, and three-year-old Cayden had enjoyed a fun trip to the Northumberland coastal town when disaster struck while the doting dad hunted for crabs with his little boy on the beach.

Stacey watched on helplessly as Steven fell and struck his head after getting his foot trapped between two rocks.

The 30-year-old suffered a seizure after the fall but then after waking in a confused state Steven slipped and fell from a small cliff and landed face down in a pool of water.

The father-of-two has since spent two weeks in the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) after medics discovered he had a bleed on his brain, a dislocated shoulder and is partially blind in one eye.

And today Steven and Stacey have told how what began as a simple family trip out turned to catastrophe.

Steven, 30, said: "It's not like I was out drinking, I was just out with my family having a nice day and then that happened. It's not just a small bleed, it's a massive bleed on my brain. You would never expect something like that to happen, I was just looking for crabs with the bairn."

And Stacey, 25, added: "It was totally horrendous. I literally just cried and cried for the whole two weeks he was in hospital. It was just a freak accident and it's been life-changing."

Stacey and Steven, who also have a 16-week-old daughter called Lucy, decided to treat Cayden to a day out at the seaside on August 7.

Joined by Steven's uncle Neil, the Ashington family enjoyed a walk along the beach, a spell in the park and a fish and chip lunch, before Steven decided to take Cayden to look in the rockpools.

"I was walking up to the rockpools when he got his foot trapped between the rocks," Stacey explained. "I think he must have pulled too hard to get out of it and he fell forward and hit his head off the rocks."

As Stacey rushed to her partner's aid she discovered he was having a seizure. Thankfully a passing couple, who Stacey believes were a doctor and a nurse stopped to help.

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They put Steven in the recovery position and placed a blanket under his head while Stacey asked Neil to call an ambulance.

"He was having a seizure for about three minutes," she continued. "The doctor and nurse kept the situation so calm. They were telling us everything would be ok."

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

But as Steven came round he panicked and began to hallucinate.

"He was so disorientated and confused he didn't have a clue what was going on," said Stacey. "What he's done was he's tried to run away from us and slipped on the seaweed.

"He went flying off a two metre cliff. He smashed his head open and a rock must have hit his eye. He was lying there face down in a rock pool."

Steven, who works as a self-employed plasterer, can't remember much of what happened.

"I can remember being on the rocks and I can remember falling over but after that I can't remember anything. My uncle was there and when I woke up I thought he had beaten us up, which of course wasn't true..

"I was that confused I ran straight off a cliff."

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Steven was taken to the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington. But after an MRI scan revealed a bleed on his brain he was immediately transferred to Newcastle's RVI and admitted to the high dependency ward.

Steven, who also suffered a fractured skull, dislocated shoulder and severe eye injury in the fall was discharged from hospital last Tuesday but will return tomorrow (TUES) for scans to determine whether he will need surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain.

"It's looking like he's going to have to have surgery," said Stacey. "It's just a waiting game at the minute. This could affect the rest of his life."